Issue 45 | December 6, 2023 | |
Editor's Note: To download pictures in this issue, simply click the red X over images and select "Download Pictures." Each picture in this issue will instantly appear as intended. | |
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Dear Faculty, Staff and Trainees,
Last week brought the sad news that John A. Talbott, MD, passed away at age 88. A Chair to our Department from 1985-1999, John’s 60-year career in psychiatry began as a community psychiatrist for the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, later directing the community psychiatry program in New York City. Hugely affected by the “unplanned, thoughtless deinstitutionalization” he encountered, John shed light on the crisis in his influential 1978 exposé, The Death of the Asylum, arguing for a balanced system of hospital and community care for patients with severe and chronic mental illness.
His work gained the attention of President Jimmy Carter, who appointed him to lead a commission to investigate the impacts of deinstitutionalization. Soon John’s work, which spanned dozens of commissions, editorial boards, university committees, and 145 peer-reviewed journals, brought him national stature in the field of psychiatry, with his particular focus on treatment, education, and research on people with severe mental illness.
John was President of the American Psychiatric Association from 1984-1985, and Director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology from 1987-1990. His background and achievements made him a natural choice to chair our Department for the next decade, which under his leadership pivoted from being more psychoanalytically driven to focusing on developing a model public psychiatry program.
John Talbott was called “a leader’s leader” in a tribute edition of Psychiatric Services, and recognized as having given our Department credibility that it hadn’t had before his 1980s tenure, both nationally and within the university.
As one colleague put it, John was “a restless, uncompromising intellectual with a gentle soul. The combination of his high-octane education, his service in Vietnam, and his work with severely ill psychiatric patients have etched a sad wisdom around his eyes… Certainly John didn’t know what he was going to face as our Chairman. My words can hardly do justice to his efforts and to the Department’s successes.”
Our thoughts are with his family today. And while we are heavy-hearted, I invite everyone who knew John to join me in celebrating his life and all of his contributions to the field of psychiatry.
Jill A. RachBeisel, MD
Dr. Irving J. Taylor Associate Professor and Chair, Department
of Psychiatry
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As we celebrate this holiday season, gathering with family and friends, and cherishing what is most important, I wish you all a very happy holiday and warm and healthy New Year! I look forward to continuing our work together in 2024!
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Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Curtis Adams has been with us since 1998--and in that time, he's distinguished himself as a tireless community advocate. A community psychiatrist specializing in recovery-oriented, person-centered care for persons with mental illnesses, he works at the Carruthers Clinic, a community mental health clinic and on the Programs for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team. He also provides educational consultation to the Harbor City Unlimited psychosocial Rehabilitation program.
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David Castine, our Director of Finance, is known around our Department for his unflagging attention to detail and skilled number-crunching.
His faculty and departmental productivity reports not only enforce precision and accuracy, but also help us put our best foot forward. And it's a good thing too, because without him, we'd be in the Wild West.
Here David is on Halloween with his wife Raquela and one and four-year-old sons Max and Logan.
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Division Director Sarah Edwards nominated Ikeyia Palmer (left) and Tyiesha Johnson (below) for the exceptional work they've been doing in our Child and Adult Psychiatry division.
Ikeyia is the DEI Champion for Child and Adult Psychiatry, while Ty manages the PA program.
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She has been with the Department since September 2017, starting in Community Psychiatry as Intake Coordinator, before become Practice Manager in January 2022.
Both Tyeisha and Ikeyia were singled out by Dr. Edwards for their contributions to the division, and especially their success in ramping up its inclusion and belonging efforts.
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Last month's second Grand Rounds event focused on the DEI committee's work advancing restorative justice. Dr. Anique Forrester introduced a guest speaker, Dr. Jay Behel, a trainer who facilitated the committee's restorative justice training last August.
To hear Dr. Behel's presentation on how restorative justice became a huge part of his career over the last decade, and how everyone in this Department can contribute to its mission through acts as simple as thinking about their relationships with people, click here.
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Starting December: Community Building Circles for All Faculty & Staff | |
Starting this month, the Department is now offering community building circles for all faculty and staff . If you missed the first community building circle event on Monday, no worries... the next one is this Friday, December 8 at 12pm at the 701 W. Pratt Building 1st Floor Conference room.
Please use the sign up link below. Each circle is limited to 15 participants. Light snacks will be provided.
Dec 8 at noon - https://volunteersignup.org/BYBCC
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Our Department LinkedIn Account Is Here...
Please give us a follow!
Starting Monday, December 3, we'll be posting new job openings to this account, as well as other news for the Department we'd like to highlight.
Please consider accepting the account's requests to connect--or better yet, give us a follow!--to help us expand our reach.
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In Case You Missed It: The Kahlert Institute Fall Retreat | |
The Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Fall Retreat took place on November 9 and was a great success! Schools across the University of Maryland Baltimore and College Park campuses were represented laying the foundation for strong interdisciplinary collaboration. To learn more about the Kahlert Institute, click here. | |
On Last Month's Annual ACLP Meeting... | |
The ACLP Annual Meeting in Austin, TX took place on Nov 8-11. There was significant representation from the CL faculty, residents (current and former), fellows, and medical student Michael Karanja. The CL team had multiple poster presentations and Dr. Forrester spoke at a lunchtime meeting titled “Micro Advocacy in CL”. | |
Tuesday, November 28 marked Dr. Dee Kelly's Investiture Ceremony, as she received the Dr. William and Carol Carpenter Endowed Professorship in Psychiatry for Mental Illness Research. | |
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And on November 3, Drs. Adam Culbreth, Jaylyn Waddell, Sarah Sunshine, Marco Venniro, Christina Ferrer, and Alex Poulopoulos were elevated as junior members to the School of Medicine Research Council.
Their terms will be for two years, beginning November 1, 2023.
Congratulations, Adam, Jaylyn, Sarah, Marco, Christina, and Alex!
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On Monday, November 27, Dr. Sonia Bansal won the International Brain Research Organization Rising Star Award .
The IBRO Rising Stars Awards aim to increase the successful transition and retention of diverse, early career neuroscientists into academic positions by providing funds to make a significant difference in their research endeavors.
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Members of the MACS team organized Thanksgiving meals and restocked the food pantry. | |
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Drs. Stephanie Hare, Stephanie Knight, Gloria Reeves, Sandra Benzel, and Jill RachBeisel co-authored a paper analyzing the trade-offs in virtual civil commitment hearings.
Appearing in the American Psychiatric Association's Psychiatric Community journal, the paper titled "Virtual Civil Commitment Hearings: Convenience at the Cost of Compromised Communication and Safety Assessments" examines the challenges and concerns that virtual hearings introduce, additional benefits of virtual CC hearings beyond those discussed in the current literature may also be present.
Dr. David Gorelick's review article on "Cannabis-related disorders and toxic effects" will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine on December 14. Its embargo ends at 5 PM on December 13.
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Mark Your Calendar for Next Month... | |
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The once-controversial idea that parental experiences, such as stress or diet, can shape the physiology and behavior of their offspring via epigenetic mechanisms has become an active area of research.
Dr. Mathieu Wimmer is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University. The overarching goal of his research program is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying vulnerability or resilience to substance use as well as the transcriptomic and epigenetic processes that underpin drug-seeking behavior and craving.
Dr. Wimmer and his team combine animal models of drug addiction with genome-wide multiomic profiling to investigate the impact of paternal drug taking on drug-related behaviors and memory formation in progeny. Dr. Wimmer is also interested in epigenetic remodeling events in the brain that underlie these inherited changes in behavior. His research is primarily funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
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CARES 2023-2024 Request for Proposals: Applications Due February 19
The University of Maryland Center for Addiction Research, Education, and Service (CARES) Science to Systems pilot grant program is requesting applications.
The aim of the program is to generate new substance use-related prevention, treatment, and system enhancement initiatives designed to improve addiction-related systems of care.
Projects proposed should demonstrate the capacity to produce measurable outcomes directly relevant to substance use disorder service delivery within a 12-to-24-month period. This UMB CARES Science to Systems grant (SSG) funding cycle will prioritize projects that target opioid use disorders as well as other illicit and licit (e.g., alcohol, tobacco) substance use associated with sub-optimal treatment and high rates of patient mortality. Projects targeting underserved populations who experience significant disparities in behavioral health treatment access and bio-psycho-social outcomes also are prioritized.
Click here to download the complete RFA with instructions for submission.
Where to Submit: When submitting your application please type CARES and the name of your project in the subject line. Ex. CARES [name of project]
All applications should be submitted electronically by e-mail as a single pdf to the email below. Tbrown4@som.umaryland.edu
Any queries regarding applicant or proposal eligibility can be directed to:
Rick Barth, PhD, MSW
CARES Executive Committee Member
University of Maryland School of Social Work
Email: rbarth@ssw.umaryland.edu
Phone: 410-706-3371
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Also, Don't Miss...
Our First Faculty Meeting of 2024
On Thursday, January 11 from noon to 1:30, we'll hold our first Faculty Meeting of 2024 at SMC Campus Center, Room 208.
Your in-person attendance is requested! We ask that you only dial in remotely if in-person attendance is impossible.
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Welcoming August Anna Cooper to the World...
Dr. Eric Weintraub's granddaughter August Anna Cooper came into the world on November 20, 2023, weighing 6 lbs 13 oz.
Congratulations, Eric!
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